Ezekiel 34:2-4
Sheep don’t thrive on good intentions. They need someone who shows up when it’s cold, who notices the one limping at the back of the flock, who goes out after dark when a lamb hasn’t come in. A shepherd who only turns up in good weather isn’t really a shepherd.
Continue reading “Who Feeds the Sheep?”
Ezekiel 30:25
There’s a question most of us have asked at some point, even if we’ve never said it out loud. Why does someone who doesn’t believe in God seem to be doing just fine, while someone who’s trying to follow him is struggling to keep their head above water?
Continue reading “Why Would God Use Babylon?”
Ezekiel 27:27
Most of us have caught ourselves believing that one more purchase, one more upgrade, one more win would finally settle something restless inside us. It never quite does. But we keep trying anyway.
Continue reading “What Goes Down with the Ship”
Lamentations 3:24–25
Most of us know the strange quiet of a waiting room. The muffled television, the magazines nobody reads, the clock that seems to move slower than it should. Somebody else has the news. All we can do is sit there and wait for it.
Continue reading “The Only Portion That Lasts”
Lamentations 2:14
Most of us know the difference between a friend who tells us what we want to hear and one who tells us the truth. One feels better in the moment. The other may hurt, but it’s the friend we need most.
Continue reading “What They Wanted to Hear”
Jeremiah 51:20-23
Most of us have been handed a job we didn’t feel ready for. Not enough training. Not enough confidence. Not enough of whatever the moment seemed to require. We look at what needs doing and wonder why anyone thought we were the right person for the job.
Continue reading “The Hammer God Chose”
Matthew 10:32–33
Drive through any neighborhood in July and you’ll see them. Flags on porches, flags on trucks, flags snapping off the back of golf carts. A flag isn’t a quiet thing. It’s not tucked in a drawer or folded in a closet somewhere, waiting to be discovered. A flag exists to be seen. That’s the whole point of it.
Continue reading “The Flag You’re Afraid to Fly”
Jeremiah 42:5–6 (ESV)
It’s easy to make a promise in the moment. Someone asks for our word, and we give it freely, without counting the cost. We tell a friend we’ll be there. We tell our kids we’ll change. We tell God, in a hard season, that if He’ll just get us through this, we’ll do whatever He says. The promise costs nothing to speak. It’s the keeping that gets expensive.
Continue reading “We’ll Do Whatever You Say”
Jeremiah 37:17
Most of us know what it is to want a word from God. Not a sign in the sky, just some quiet sense that He sees what we are facing and has something to say about it. The trouble is, that hunger usually shows up after we have spent a long time keeping His voice at arm’s length. That was Zedekiah’s problem, and he is about the last man we would expect to come looking.
Continue reading “Is There Any Word from the Lord?”